Shiplake College pupils and staff were treated to a very special Thursday Thought this morning after what has been a week of poignant reflection and remembrance.
Mr Howe introduced Drama Scholar, Monty Mclaren-Clark, who recently played the leading part in a short film entitled Dying of the Light, by director, David Newton about World War I.
The film is a tribute to the 250,000 soldiers under the aged of 18 who lost their lives fighting in the war. The youngest being just 12, the age of a Year 7 boy at Shiplake College.
In it, Monty is seen dressed as a WWI soldier walking through some shrubland on the French battlefields with a comrade who tragically gets shot by enemy fire. There are war planes flying overhead and he looks scared and weary, having to continue his journey on his own, a lone boy soldier left to the mercy of the enemy.
As he trudges on shotgun poised, he utters the words below, a Dylan Thomas poem (Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night) which brings to life the horrors these young boys faced in the realisation that they were walking to an early death and would not be returning home:
Do not go gentle into that good night,
Old age should burn and rave at close of day;
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
Though wise men at their end know dark is right,
Because their words had forked no lightning they
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Good men, the last wave by, crying how bright
Their frail deeds might have danced in a green bay,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
Wild men who caught and sang the sun in flight,
And learn, too late, they grieved it on its way,
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Grave men, near death, who see with blinding sight
Blind eyes could blaze like meteors and be gay,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
And you, my father, there on the sad height,
Curse, bless, me now with your fierce tears, I pray.
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
In his interview with Mr Howe, Monty explains that he found out about the role through a friend who encouraged him to audition. Because of the COVID situation, he had to submit a 'self-take' tape and was contacted shortly after to say he had got the part. A world away from the trenches in France, the film was actually shot on an estate near Maidenhead!
Thank you to the Director for allowing us to premiere the film to the College community this morning; unfortunately it is not possible to share it again just yet as the film will now be shown at film festivals and show reels and hopefully go on to win a prize. You can view Monty's interview with the Headmaster below, along with some stills from the film and behind the scenes.
Well done Monty you should be incredibly proud of what was a powerful and moving tribute to all those fallen boy soldiers in WWI.
